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tetranz · 12-27-2020, 04:20 PM

Don't laugh too much but this was my weekend project and first time seriously attacking the RV (or really anything expensive) with a power tool.

That's a 1-1/4 inch hole with a plastic box over the top, a cable gland in the side, all sealed up with silicone and a Poynting Mimo antenna for LTE and wifi.

The antenna is magnetically mounted on a 18" square piece of galvanized steel as a ground plane. The box and sheet are stuck down with double sided eternabond tape. We could argue if the ground plan is really necessary. Earlier documentation on this antenna suggested it would provide a couple of db extra gain although I can't find that note now.

The main reason for the box is because I have plans for some more antennas, a directional yagi on a telescopic pole for remote locations and maybe a 2 meter ham radio antenna. I'll be able to do those without more holes in the roof.

I haven't finished inside yet but that's the cable coming into the top of a kitchen cabinet. The forum turned the picture on its side. I plan on putting the Pepwave router / modem up there. Getting power up there is going to be a challenge.

VanDiemen23 · 12-27-2020, 04:49 PM

I just got done replacing my crank up Winegard antenna with a Magnadyne Saucer. I wanted to use the Magnadyne's FM element but the FM cable and the TV cable are in two different roof compartments and no way to get the two together.

I 3d printed a plate to seal off all of the Winegards mounting holes and the huge oversized holes Beaver cut for access. I incorporated the mount for the magnadyne in the cover plate.

The old FM antenna was a whip that was so worn it would no longer stand up. I bought a shark fin to replace it, but the shark fin covered the FM hole in a way that I wouldn't be able to screw the base to the roof using the old FM antenna mount holes, so I plucked the element out of the shark fin and designed a little R2-D2 shaped radome for it and a roof plug/element holder.

Camper25 · 12-27-2020, 05:17 PM

I'm looking for a good mimo omni antenna..... please let us know how it works.

LarryJB · 12-28-2020, 08:12 PM

I have plans of adding this same antenna to my roof. I am hoping to use the existing cb antenna roof hole so I won't have to drill a new hole. I am interested to see how well this antenna works for you. Btw: I think I would get some dicor self leveling sealant to seal that box. I think that silicone sealer will break down and start leaking much sooner than the dicor.
Also, doesn't that plate need to be grounded in some way? I would think a metal plate stuck down to a fiberglass roof would not actually be grounded.
decor.
Is the pepwave router capable of poe? That would be the way to go for remote mounted routers.

tetranz · 12-28-2020, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJB

I have plans of adding this same antenna to my roof. I am hoping to use the existing cb antenna roof hole so I won't have to drill a new hole. I am interested to see how well this antenna works for you.

I'll report back here. It's certainly working well where it's parked right now but it's in a good signal area so probably doesn't mean much. I looked at the RSRQ level between using the antenna and the Pepwave sitting on top of the microwave oven with its screw-on antennas and it wasn't much different. I guess the test will come when we try it in a weak signal area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJB

Btw: I think I would get some dicor self leveling sealant to seal that box. I think that silicone sealer will break down and start leaking much sooner than the dicor.

I'll keep an eye on it but I used NuFlex 311, "Self-Leveling RV Silicone". There's a video on YouTube from someone who sounds like he knows what he's talking about

saying "Don't use Dicor". He shows some fairly convincing evidence on a RV roof. I checked the Winnebago list of sealants and they give their part number. I guess I could have ordered some from them but then I found a forum post from someone who said he ordered that part number from Winnebago and they actually sent him NuFlex 311. But ... this is the first time I've done any of this so its all a bit new and confusing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJB

Also, doesn't that plate need to be grounded in some way? I would think a metal plate stuck down to a fiberglass roof would not actually be grounded.

No I don't think that matters. It's big enough in terms of the wavelength to act as a ground plane. I don't claim to be an expert but I know a little more about antennas than I know about sealants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryJB

Is the pepwave router capable of poe? That would be the way to go for remote mounted routers.

No it doesn't. Unfortunately that antenna has quite a bunch of five cables. Two for cellular, two for wifi and one for GPS. It would definitely be nicer to have a single ethernet cable going to it. I like the idea of having active components close to the antenna.

The Pepwave MAX BR1 MK2 is a nice device but if I was doing this again I would probably do something different. I slightly regret rushing out in excitement when we got the RV about six months ago and buying the Pepwave and antenna bundle from MobileMustHave, not that there is anything wrong with Pepwave or MobileMustHave.

I wish I knew what I know now. I can see within a year or so I'll be building my own modem / router setup by following one of the many how-to guides on ltehacks.com. It's relatively cheap to build your own, use a router with OpenWRT open source firmware, a more modern modem that can be easily upgraded and, as you mentioned, POE. The Pepwave is already falling behind a little because it doesn't do band 71 which is going to be big for T-Mobile.

LarryJB · 12-30-2020, 09:28 AM

I went through several setups before ending up with a cradlepoint CBA850 and and old asus router set up as access point. This has been rock solid using my $20mo att Mobley sim card. Currently I am using the paddle antennas that came with it, but I want add an external antenna for better reception in low signal areas.

deeperblue · 07-31-2021, 11:02 AM

Hi,

Could you please show me one or two actual link/article on ltehacks.com on how to build your own system?

Thank you very much!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tetranz

...
I wish I knew what I know now. I can see within a year or so I'll be building my own modem / router setup by following one of the many how-to guides on ltehacks.com. It's relatively cheap to build your own, use a router with OpenWRT open source firmware, a more modern modem that can be easily upgraded and, as you mentioned, POE. The Pepwave is already falling behind a little because it doesn't do band 71 which is going to be big for T-Mobile.

tetranz · 08-01-2021, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeperblue

Hi,

Could you please show me one or two actual link/article on ltehacks.com on how to build your own system?

Thank you very much!

It was a bit of a general comment but I think I was looking at something like this https://ltefix.com/shop/routers/lte-...dem-parts-kit/. That page has some links to tutorials on ltehacks.com. I think I was looking at this for a modem. https://ltefix.com/shop/modems/sierr...dvanced-modem/

You probably have to be a bit of a nerd and be interested in doing it. I'd have to do some more research if I was to get back to it now but in the past I've built my own ham radio equipment etc so it's something I could probably do fairly easily and it also seems like a bit of a fun project. I'm also into open source so that sounded good too.

When I wrote that I think T-Mobile had recently announced their 100 GB for $50 plan which seemed at the time to be the only hotspot plan direct from a carrier that had a somewhat useful amount of data for a reasonable price. I was feeling a bit frustrated that my Pepwave doesn't do band 71 which is quite important for T-Mobile's expansion. Having a router with the ability to swap the modem seemed like a nice flexible setup.

Since then AT&T came out with a similar plan which changed the situation for me. The Pepwave is good for the bands that AT&T use so, with more important projects to do around the RV, I never went any further with this but it's still a possible future project.

deeperblue · 08-01-2021, 12:26 PM

I see. The information you provided is exactly what I was looking for. Although I may not do it right now, but it does tell me where to start if I want to do it. Pepwave and similar products are expensive, so building your own could be an very attractive option.

Thank you very much!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tetranz

It was a bit of a general comment but I think ...

tetranz · 08-01-2021, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeperblue

I see. The information you provided is exactly what I was looking for. Although I may not do it right now, but it does tell me where to start if I want to do it. Pepwave and similar products are expensive, so building your own could be an very attractive option.

Thank you very much!

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